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Copyright: © 1993 Kodansha (Japan), © 1994 Animeigo (North America) Based on the manga series by: Fujishima Kosuke Director: Goda Hiroaki Producers: Shindo Masao, Takimoto Hiro Character Design: Matsubura Hidenori English Version Executive Producer: Robert J. Woodhead Translation by: Shin Kurokawa, Matsushima Naoko Enter a hammer-wielding 12 year old goddess in charge of debugging the heavens. Skuld is Belldandy's baby sister and a class I unlimited goddess. Tired of fighting hundreds of bugs running loose throughout the Ultimate Force system in the heavens, she tries to get Belldandy to come back home with her. With yet another goddess in the area, will Keichi let alone the temple survive intact? Never mind that there's a racing competition to be run, and everyone seems to have left poor Keichi to his own devices... Hisakawa Aya has been a fan favourite for quite a while, and she brings her energetic talents to the third episode of A!MG! as Skuld, the youngest sister of the goddess clan. This is the liveliest of the OAV episodes; Hisakawa's presence really steals the show. The representations of the inner workings of the young Skuld's mind are hilarious! Those of you who have ever attended a tech school or engineering at university will find this one fun as well (though we only had the rubber-band powered egg transports, and concrete toboggan races). Some boppin' music again, with solid background music for a all-night prep session in the song, Super Motorcycle, and a dramatic build-up for the final run-off for the championships. A few uncharacteristic technical misses by AnimEigo in translation ("mesh hose?" "balancers in the handlebars??" "rubber bearings???") -- but they don't affect the story much... Strong story and direction, and good acting throughout (listen to Ito Miki's voice in the background as the event announcer, especially in the finals -- she's good!) - AN This is another fun episode in this series. So far, the series has been quite light-hearted and playful. Skuld's addition to the temple makes for some interesting tension between her and her eldest sister Urd. (Hey she didn't come to get her). The story in this episode is a lot of fun with Skuld getting some really good shots. There is liberal use of simplified animation to represent Skuld's daydreams which are suitably 2D and straight forward for a 12 year olds thoughts. Typical to being the "volunteer" for racing in the competition, Keichi is left with putting the bike together (although it really does look a lot more like parts). The translation for this episode was pretty good, although there was one major "whoops". Rubber bearings?! Er... I hope I never get on that bike! Otherwise, you might want to be a bit careful if you watch this episode late at night in an apartment. All you hear are motorcycle engines in the next room... The closing credits are well worth a second (or third) look and AnimEigo has included a "non-credit" version after the credits roll by so you can watch the entire thing unhindered. - JYN
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